


like people do

by 10Hates



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Blue Lions Route, F/M, byleth has a memory loss, byleth will get ridiculously overpowered so buckle up, the timeskip didn't happen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-04
Updated: 2020-02-06
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:01:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22563661
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/10Hates/pseuds/10Hates
Summary: Byleth falls in the battle at Garreg Mach, losing memory of who she used to be and adapting to a new life as a commoner in Faerghus. She is content with the life she leads, even if the war makes her go through a lot of hardships, but when she accidentally meets Dimitri, who is running away from being executed in Fhirdiad, it all starts coming back.And she doesn't know if it's a good thing.
Relationships: Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd & My Unit | Byleth, Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd/My Unit | Byleth
Comments: 7
Kudos: 85





	1. byleth eisner

**Author's Note:**

> this is the first chapter and it's more of a prologue than anything, i'm kinda getting used to writing byleth. i will be introducing dimitri to this next chapter.

Byleth doesn't know much.  
In fact, Byleth doesn't even know for sure if her name is indeed Byleth; the only things she can recall are vague flashes of light, the yellow sky, and the feeling of not being able to breathe. There is nothing but darkness. Warmth. Silence. Stillness.  
That is, until there's not.

Suddenly, there is light, and movement, and the wind almost forces her back underwater (water? how did she get in the water?), and it's cold, and Byleth has to force herself to the shore, feeling as if her limbs are going to fall off right there if she moves, and moving despite that. It's hard, especially as something heavy presses against her back, making movement even more difficult. As she gets out and sits up on the rocks, she can finally examine her burden.

It is a sword.  
Byleth remembers a sword.

There is something in her head, a whisper, but it's incomprehensible, muffled, too quiet to recognise. Perhaps it is somehow connected with the sword, but Byleth just cannot concentrate, white noise filling her head as she tries desperately to stand up. It proves to be quite hard in her attire, the wet cloth sticking to her body almost instantly, and she knows that it will only slow her down. No matter.  
She has to—  
She needs to—  
She can't recall.

She picks up the sword, using the blade to rid herself of the cloak. The voice of reason tells byleth to abandon the weapon immediately afterwards, seeing it as dead weight.  
Instead, Byleth wraps it in what used to be her cloak and starts pointlessly marching into the landscape she can't recognise.  
It is not long before the white noise and the exhaustion claims her and forces her to fall.

***

When Byleth next wakes up, it is warm and dark once more, but in a different way. She cannot move, she cannot speak, and it takes all her strength to move even a couple inches, which she does nonetheless — and falls.

At this point, falling seems quite a constant in her life.

"Mom! Mom, look, she's finally awake!"  
There is a child's voice. Byleth growls and turns her head, almost instantly recognising its source: a human infant of about ten years of age, somehow malnourished and a bit on the smaller side. There are other children, even younger, huddled together near a fire.  
A fire.  
Byleth finds in herself the strength to get up and walk towards the hearth, setting down on the warm stones. Before she can even think of it, she reaches into the flames and takes out a handful of embers, unharmed. The warmth is intoxicating. She feels like she could stay like this forever.  
She doesn't.

"What is it, Lamberta?" There is a woman, and she comes in the room and gasps as Byleth turns around to meet her eyes. The child's mother, no doubt; they share the same facial features, the same big, watery grey eyes, rough, calloused hands, and an air of not getting enough food and sleep.

"You. You're awake."

Byleth nods, eyeing the woman with caution. For a moment, there's silence, uncertainty. As if any wrong word, any incorrect action will result in a calamity.

"Oh! I'll fetch up something to eat!" Lamberta jumps up and runs out of the room, and the moment is gone.

It is not long before the three sit behind a small wooden table in a dingy kitchen, eating a watery soup that does not quite help with the hunger — and Byleth feels hungry, as if she's not eaten for ages. She stuffs her mouth with bread and it takes a lot of effort from both Lamberta and Helga (the woman's name) to persuade her to slow down. They talk little outside of that.

"So, how come that a noblewoman like you ends up collapsing in the wheat field? Are you escaping from the Alliance, child?"

"I am no noble."

"Surely you are. You were wearing a golden circlet and carrying a sword. Besides, I have never seen a commoner with hair like yours."  
Helga shuts her mouth suddenly, as if recalling that perhaps the hair is the least peculiar thing about her guest.  
She changes the topic.

"What's your name, kid?"

Kid. The word fills Byleth with sudden warmth. She chews through the bread before giving a response, smiling for the first time.

"Byleth. Byleth Eisner."

"Well, Byleth, you're still weakened from your feat out there. Go rest. And when morning comes, we will figure this out."

***

Byleth learns a lot in the coming days.  
Byleth learns that it is the Garland Moon of Imperial year 1181. The knowledge doesn't tell her much, as she doesn't recall anything prior to her fall, and she can't even figure out when did it take place.  
Byleth learns that the family that took her in is a commoner one, branching off from a minor noble line, and that they have lived under the rule of Margrave Fraldarius since even before the war.  
She also learns that there's a war.  
She learns that there's a tower nearby, and that she's not supposed to go there "because of that rascal Miklan of the Gautier family to the north, do you know about them? They are friends with our Margrave". She doesn't know the Gautier family. The noise in her head doesn't help.  
Byleth gets to know the children; there's Lamberta, whom she knows, and also Patricia and Dima ("in honor of prince Dimitri, the poor lad, driven mad with grief"), too young to work in the fields with their mother and sister. Their father, she learns, died in Duscur five years ago, and Byleth prays for him.  
She learns that she likes praying.

Nothing that she learns really tells her much of who she is. She knows she is Byleth Eisner, she bears a Crest and a sword to match that Crest, and she knows that she is somehow different from other humans around her, but outside that, there's nothing. there are no nobles with that name that her newfound family can think of. She probably was someone important, she thinks, looking at her blade, hoping that it would reveal to her some truth about herself.  
But it doesn't.

Garland Moon passes.  
So does the Blue Sea Moon.

Byleth stops searching.


	2. now you must learn

"Byleth! Byleth, you have to wake up!"

A voice. Byleth can't recognise it, although it sounds painfully familiar. Where did it come from? There is a flash, and she sees a throne, empty. No, that's not right. there was someone on the throne, and surely—  
A thick fog clouds her memories, something she got used to. She concentrates.

The fog isn't gone completely, but now she can see her surroundings. The throne room is gone, replaced by a different place. It is empty. Was it always that empty?  
No, she recalls, there were people here too. Where did they go?  
Through the fog, she navigates towards the cathedral.  
As she makes her way through the empty rooms, she carefully steps over the bodies. Bodies? Where did they come from? There aren't supposed to be bodies here, this was—  
The fog thickens. There's no time. She starts running.

The sky above, it's yellow. Has it always been? The bridge is ruined, the floors are tainted with blood, and there are corpses everywhere—  
No, no, this isn't right!  
The cathedral is up ahead. Byleth stops.

"How much longer do you intend to sleep?"

The voice is behind her, and she turns around, but cannot see a thing.

"Your body is awake, but your will is not. You have forgotten who you are. You must remember."

Byleth tries, she really does, but the more she struggles to recall, the harder it becomes to see in front of her.

"The earth weeps as tears of scarlet rain from the sky and spears and arrows pierce the ground. The people are lost in an abyss of suffering. But you already know that, do you?"

Everything's falling apart. The floor is shaking. She hears a distant roar. Is that—

"Now, you must learn who they are, and who are you."

Byleth falls.

"Now, you must learn."

***

"Byleth, wake up!"

Byleth lets out an irritated growl and gets up slowly, reaching for the water pitcher on the nightstand. Lamberta (ah, so it was her voice) helps her with that, making sure that the water doesn't spill. It's dark in the room, but Eisner can sense movement behind the door into the kitchen. Is it morning already? For some reason, she was sure it was the middle of the night.

"What time is it?"

Lamberta smiles, taking the pitcher and setting it back on the nightstand after byleth finishes drinking. "It's dawn. We need to start preparing the horses if we want to get to the harvest festival in time."

Right. The harvest festival.  
It is the Horsebow Moon, after all.

Since Byleth abandoned her search for answers, her life has been more than fulfilling. Sure, she didn't know her origins or her destiny, but it mattered little when it came to growing crops, fishing and fighting off bandits. She would have called this situation perfect, yet...  
There still were the dreams.

"Good morning, Byleth. Did you have those nightmares again? You've been talking in your sleep and thrashing about all night." Helga sets before her a plate of food and a jug of milk. "Do eat up, we need you to be strong and fed when it is time to go to the festival. Can't risk having our only protector malnourished if we run into bandits on the road!"

Byleth eats, but she doesn't feel hungry. the image that she saw is still fresh in her memory. What was that place? Has she been there before? And that voice...

"It was clearer today. I saw places... I was running to a cathedral. I saw familiar scenery that I can't recognise, but it was all wrong, and there was a voice talking to me from the fog. What was she telling me? Something about..." but alas, the memory is gone. "No, can't recall."

Helga listens to her ramble, visibly concerned. "It must be your past speaking to you, child. Perhaps it was wrong for us to just brush it off. You have a Relic, after all. The goddess must have plans for you. Perhaps you are destined for greatness."

"I can hardly believe it. Whatever past i had was lost the day I fell. Surely this is my destiny, being here and now?"

Byleth doesn't want to admit it, but the past she sees is not pleasant. While she can't recall the whole picture, the fragments she has are painful and sad. She is happy here. Sure, there's a war going on out there, and the nightmares grow stronger, but she is satisfied nonetheless.  
She can be normal.  
She can live a normal life.  
Like people do.

"Can i help you with the dishes?"

"No, me and Lamberta will manage. Could you go outsite and get the cart ready? I already started packing, but there are still baskets worth of vegetables that we need to take with us." 

"Sure thing."

Physical work really does wonders for Byleth. Her Crest grants her incredible strength, and sometimes she jokes that she could take an army head-on with that power. Of course, those are just jokes. There are no people who could take on an entire army; that stuff is only possible in legends. Byleth can take on a small group of bandits though. Or a bear. Or a potato field.  
It takes little to no time to load the cart with the remaining baskets and prepare for departure. There are the clothes that Helga gave her for outings (even though Byleth ventures into town rarely, she can still appreciate the gesture), some food and drink that she ties neatly in a hamper, a register to account the festival's sales (it was in a state when Byleth first arrived, but she found in herself a knack for organising such things), and...  
The sword.

Truth is, the sword frightened Byleth.

She couldn't quite place it. Why did it seem so important? It's as if the sword was a part of her, and if she lost it, she would lose herself entirely. And at the same time, the sword was a key to her past.  
Sometimes she remembered it more clearly, she remembered holding the sword, landing heavy blows on people she couldn't recognise, rushing through a bloody battlefield, cutting down everyone in her path, not feeling any compassion or remorse. Sometimes it was vaque, the glowing in her hands, the blade draining power from her, a suffocating feeling that never stopped.  
Either way, there were no answers.  
Only questions.

_"Now, you must learn who they are, and who are you."_

She can almost hear it, the voice from her dream, and she's certain that if she picks up the sword now, she will finally understand the meaning behind these words.  
That's why she wraps the blade in a cloth and hangs it on her belt.

She doesn't hear the voice anymore.

***

For Byleth's first harvest festival, she holds up pretty well. The town marketplace is flooded with people, which almost makes her faint, and Lamberta has to fetch up a bucket of water from the nearest well, but other than that, everything is more than pleasant. They sell most of the crops they brought, and while Byleth's unusual appearance certainly draws attention, it also draws customers.  
They are done before the bell rings six.

"Seems like that's it for the day. A shame that Margrave Fraldarius didn't visit this year. I think you'd make quite a match for his son."

"I've only lived with you a couple months, and you are already marrying me off, Helga?" Byleth laughs a bit, chewing on her lunch, a bit of bread and cheese that leave crumbs on her dress.

"Can't worry about your past if you're focused on the future."

That is true. If Byleth can look forward to the next year's festival, to tomorrow's worth of work in the fields, to the next celebration in the church, then she can pretend like it's enough.  
It really is.

The sun's still high, and the long cart ride home is quiet. Lamberta, exhausted from all the running, naps on some cloth that they bought from a store in town, and Helga tells stories of the landmarks they pass, which are always exaggerated and too dramatic to be true. The summer is at its end, but it's still warm, and the refreshing cold wind is the only thing that keeps Byleth awake. This is the time of day she has learned to enjoy the most; when your work is almost done, and you can look forward to returning home, eating a hearty dinner together and spending the evening near the hearth, telling stories, praying and playing games, teaching the children to read and write, or heading out to fish before the sun goes down.

The simple joys of human life.

But before they even get halfway home, Byleth suddenly snaps out of her thoughts, stopping the cart and jumping off it. There are voices and lights in the forest. They're close.  
Bandits?  
Byleth leans closer to the ground and listens.

"What is it?"

"Bandit raid." Byleth inhales, tasting the air. Oily smoke from the torches. Sweat. Dirt. Hay. She can hear the swearing and shouting. "Not that far from here. A group of about fifteen people, two of them on horseback."

"Are they going to come for us?" Lamberta is suddenly awake in the cart, and Helga is quick to try and calm her down. 

Byleth inhales again, closing her eyes this time. There is a strong smell of blood. Something is running through the forest, breaking the branches and bushes that block its path. Prey?  
"Don't think so. They're chasing something. Maybe a deer."

No. Not a deer. Deer are graceful and swift, they don't move like this. This is raw, and rough, and hectic, full of rage and fear. Perhaps, a boar?  
No. Too large.  
A person?

The running stops abruptly, and then there's a clash of metal. An inhuman scream follows. Byleth jumps instantly, reaching for her sword on instinct. Suddenly, there's nothing around. Everything goes dark. It's as if all has just disappeared, leaving no room for human feelings or the voice of reason.  
"Go on forward and don't stop until you're out of the forest!"

"What? Are you crazy, Byleth? There's no way you can take on them all alone!"

"I have to try."  
There's despair in her voice, in her eyes, and maybe it really is insane, but something compels her to rush through the forest and into the bloodbath, screaming like mad while slicing her enemies into pieces, without a hint of compassion.

"We yield! We yield!" one of them screams, but to no avail.

And suddenly, Byleth sees the forest change into a burning village, and the bandits into soldiers, and there's someone screaming her name as she cuts through the enemy force and she hears a roar—  
Gone.

When she is in the forest again, it is red with blood.

Byleth looks at the blade in her hands, glowing brighter than ever. Was it really her? Did she do this?  
Then, she turns around.

"Are you... alright?"

There is a man in front of her.  
He looks at her with disbelief and shock, all covered in blood and wounds from the encounter with the bandits. Is he afraid of her? He must be.  
There is a man in front of her that she can't recall, and at the same time, her heart aches the moment their eyes meet. His blonde hair, his blue eye, it all looks painfully familiar. Byleth lifts her hand to her face only to wipe away tears.  
She is crying?  
Why is she crying?  
She has never cried before.

She steps towards him into the light, reaching out her hand.  
He stares into her eyes, as if seeing a ghost, and then lets out a faint smile.

_"It's you."_

And grabs her hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> woah i wasn't expecting such a warm response but thank you,,,,,,, so much??????  
> im crying ттотт  
> now i gotta be good for a change!  
> dimitri is finally here and next chapter he's gonna find out some sad news so uh yeah
> 
> also i drew farmer byleth: https://twitter.com/nya_kawaiidesu/status/1225164875997032448


End file.
